Social Distortion took the stage at Brooklyn Paramount on Sept. 11 and 12. The California punk band arrived with their eighth studio album\u00a0Born to Kill, released on May 8. Fifteen years had passed since their last studio work.<\/p>\n
Both nights started with “Born to Kill<\/a>,” the title track. Six songs from the new album appeared in the setlist. Eleven older tracks filled out the rest. Descendents and The Chats opened both shows.<\/p>\n Mike Ness started the band in 1978 in Fullerton, California. He’s the only original member left. The current lineup has stuck together since 2010: Ness sings and plays guitar, Jonny Wickersham handles guitar, Brent Harding plays bass, and David Hidalgo Jr. sits behind the drums.<\/p>\n Doctors diagnosed Ness with stage 1 tonsil cancer in 2023. After surgery, he underwent radiation and six weeks of mild chemotherapy, according to Rolling Stone<\/a>. The treatment forced him to relearn how to swallow, while rehabilitation of his speaking and singing voice continued into 2024.<\/p>\n “Punk had changed by the mid ’80s, and there was a lot of us who didn’t know where we fit, so we had to make the hard left, and carve out our own sound,” Ness told the crowd before playing “Story of My Life<\/a>,” as quoted by Consequence<\/a>. “I was certain when I wrote this group of songs that no one was gonna like them, because they weren’t just stereotypical punk, they weren’t hardcore, they weren’t heavy metal.”<\/p>\n He continued, “I decided to bring American roots music, and take everything I learned from punk, and combine them. It turns out you all like this song because you’ve all been singing it with us for over 30 years.”<\/p>\n